The law does not provide for an exemption from criminal liability in connection with disability. It is believed that once a person was able to commit a crime, then he is able to bear responsibility for his actions. Penitentiary practice provides for the creation of special conditions for the disabled: specialized prison cells.
Conditions of detention
There are very few special ITKs for disabled people. One of these colonies operates in Ukraine, in the Dnipropetrovsk region. There are also prisons for disabled people in Japan. As for Russia, there is a different practice here: re-equipment of individual cells for the needs of disabled people. Not every city hospital and not every state institution is equipped with ramps, so it is not difficult to imagine the conditions in which Russian prisoners with disabilities are found.
The prison is a correctional facility for the most dangerous prisoners. Persons sentenced to 5 years or more for especially grave crimes, as well as repeat offenders and convicts who regularly violate the rules in colonies are imprisoned. There are two types of prison regime: general and strict. The laws prohibit keeping disabled persons of groups 1 and 2 on a strict regime.
Problems need to be solved
A member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, Maria Kannabikh, claims that the quality of life of disabled prisoners in Russian colonies depends entirely on the mercy of their cellmates. Such elementary actions as going to the cafeteria or the toilet turn into a huge problem, since there are no ramps, no lifts, or other specialized devices in the colonies.
According to Cannabich, public oversight commissions have recently begun to pay particular attention to the problems of prisoners with disabilities. We are talking not only about wheelchair users, but also about hearing impaired, visually impaired people suffering from diseases of internal organs.
In addition to the arrangement of the colonies, there is another problem: the lack of medical personnel. Medical workers simply do not want to work in “remote places” due to difficult conditions and low salaries. From a purely human point of view, they can be understood. Who wants to go to the end of the world for a dubious company and a small salary?
New laws
The Ministry of Justice has adopted a package of laws providing for the improvement of conditions for serving sentences for disabled people. According to these laws, hearing impaired persons must be provided with the services of a sign language interpreter during the first interview in the colony. All people with disabilities are entitled to social stress-relieving counseling.
In addition, it is expected that the administration of the colonies will be obliged to organize jobs for the disabled and create conditions for their vocational training. The working week for disabled people of groups 1 and 2 will be reduced to 35 hours while maintaining pay for the full work week. It is envisaged that after serving the sentence, a disabled person will be accompanied to the place of residence by one of his relatives, and in the absence of relatives - by an employee of the colony.
